A True Artist
by Lisle987
Summary: Rainbow Dash tries to learn how to paint from Pinkie Pie to impress Spitfire, but learns a lot more than painting along the way...Includes Vincent Van Gogh references.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey, everypony! :D This is my first fanfic based on prompt words, so I'm not too sure about this...still, I'll give it my best shot. :3 Enjoy! :D**

_Rainbow Dash awoke from her regular nap slowly, yawning loudly. It was a Tuesday afternoon, and all the other ponies were probably busy. But not Rainbow Dash. She'd finished all her weather-related tasks for the day, and now she could do whatever she wanted for the rest of the day and, for the most part, she spent that extra time practicing for her moves and technique, if the Wonderbolts were to ever show up and see her. But, after a lot of hard work, she would usually take a nap afterwards. She didn't want to overwork herself. After all, the Wonderbolts wouldn't be impressed with a tired pegasus. She had to think about her performance. She was about to fall back into the gentle arms of sleep, when she was taken away from her dreamy thoughts by a familiar voice._

"Dashie!"

_She groaned, then started falling back to sleep again, ignoring the shout._

"Come on, you sleepyhead! Wake up!"

_The voice was louder now, and more concentrated. She stretched properly, making sure all the muscles in her wings were carefully adjusted. After that, she stood on the cloud and looked over the fluffy whiteness, the very image of grumpiness. However, the pony who had called Rainbow Dash seemed unaffected by the athletes reaction, and only smiled up at her, bouncing on the spot happily, her bright pink mess of hair bouncing with her, as if it lived independently, and her pet alligator Gummy poking it's head out of the pink bag she carried with her, as neutral as usual to all that was happening around him._

"Pinkie Pie, what is it? I'm trying to sleep!"

"Rainbow Dash! You're awake! At first, you weren't waking up, so I just kept calling you, and then I thought about taking my air balloon up there, and then I realised I'd left Gummy back home, and I was so worried that I ran all the way back home, and when I'd come back here, you were just waking up, so I started calling you again, a-"

_At this point, Rainbow Dash had slowly flown down and put a hoof over Pinkie's mouth, who continued to smile, either oblivious or uncaring of the pegasus's attitude._

"Pinkie Pie. What did you want?"

"Mm mm mm mm!"

"Huh?"

_It was at that point that Rainbow Dash remembered that her hoof was still on Pinkie Pie's mouth. She sighed and moved it away, mentally preparing herself for the surge of randomness that would proceed to spurt from her friend._

"Oh, yeah! I was just walking around when I saw this poster for an art class, and I was hoping you'd come with me!"

_Pinkie Pie finished with a grin, looking up at Rainbow Dash was a delighted face. Rainbow Dash sighed in response._

"Pinkie Pie, you know I wouldn't be interested in that kind of stuff. Why did you ask **me**? Can't you take some other pony?"

_Though she was rejected, the grin didn't appear from Pinkie Pie's face as she tried again._

"Come on, Dashie! You never know, you might end up liking it!"

"Pinkie Pie, I can barely handle writing simple words with my mouth, let alone sticking a paintbrush in there! I'm the greatest flyer in Equestria, not the greatest painter!"

_Pinkie's hair started to deflate and she looked to the floor._

"So does that mean you won't go?"

_Rainbow Dash was about to reject her offer completely when she remembered how Pinkie Pie would go to every one of her flying events. She felt a stab of guilt, and sighed. Stupid Pinkie Pie, she thought. She'll get in the way of my dream one of these days. She sighed and grumbled her response._

"Fine, I'll go."

_Pinkie Pie, in her usual unpredictability, pounced on her, hugging her so tightly she could barely breathe._

"Yay! Thanks, Dashie! Don't worry, you're gonna have the best time ever!"

"Pinkie...can't...breathe..."

_Pinkie Pie suddenly let go, allowing Rainbow Dash to gasp in some air._

"Oh! Sorry."

_As Rainbow Dash started to recover, Pinkie Pie grabbed her and began to drag her off._

"Come on, slowpoke! To the art class!"

"Who you calling slowpoke? And I can get there myself."

_Rainbow Dash stayed low on the ground near Pinkie Pie, flying slowly as Pinkie Pie jumped up and down and continued to ramble._


	2. Chapter 2

_Pinkie Pie burst through the door of the art class, shocking everypony in the middle of their work._

"Hey, everypony!"

_She continued to jump around to her desk, oblivious to the muttering and giggling that came from other ponies around her. Rainbow Dash followed glumly, annoyed by the other ponies. Didn't they have anything better to do than gossip, she thought to herself angrily. She stood at the same desk as Pinkie Pie, the two making a clashing image; Pinkie Pie's happiness and excitement compared to Rainbow Dash's annoyed face. The teacher smiled at them, thinking that they would look good together in different shades of blue and pink. The teacher's coat was a light peach colour, though you'd barely notice that, as she was covered with splashes of different coloured paint. Her mane was a sort of dirty blonde, and her cutie mark was, of course, a paintbrush. She smiled warmly at the class of about 20 other ponies, all locals from Ponyville, though Rainbow Dash could see none of her close friends besides Pinkie Pie.  
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"Hello, class! It's nice to see so many of you are excited."

_With this statement, she smiled at Pinkie Pie, who gave her a large grin in return, while Rainbow Dash seemed to sink into her desk in boredom and frustration._

"The important thing you need to learn about this class is that art can be expressed in many ways. Some write songs, some preform a play, but in this lesson, we're going to be learning about..."

_With that, she walked over to a covered canvas, pulled all the covering with her mouth and revealed a beautiful painting of a rose. It was greeted with gasps from the other ponies, especially Roseluck, who was there at the time, and put a hoof over her mouth to contain a squeak of joy. The teacher looked to the class and smiled once again._

"Painting!"

_Suddenly, at that very moment, a pony burst through the doors. Her orange and yellow striped and messy mane seemed to grab the entire classes eyes, along with the fact that she was late. Just about everypony in that room__ recognised her, including a certain cyan pony, who was bursting with excitement._

"Sorry I'm late, Miss Gogh. I was a bit too caught up in training, and I just lost track of the time."

_Miss Gogh's face brightened up even more than before._

"Oh, Spitfire, I'm so glad you could join us! Class, this is Spitfire, who you've all probably heard of. She's a regular visitor to this class."

_Spitfire smiled carelessly to the starstruck class._

"Hey!"

_She walked to her seat, ignoring the stares that followed her, which was at the left side of the class, far away from the ecstatic Rainbow Dash that she hadn't noticed. The teacher turned to the rest of the class and coughed slightly, getting their attention towards her and away from Spitfire._

"So, ponies, this class is more about enjoying yourself than anything else. Paint anything you want, even if it doesn't make sense! Who knows, you might discover a new hobby! Come and gather all the things you need from the front of the room. I want to see a lot of creativity going on here!"

_With that, she stepped aside to let the few ponies that were still concentrating on the lesson get their canvases and such. However, over half of the class ran over to Spitfire and started questioning her, not noticing that it made her slightly uncomfortable. While Pinkie Pie bounced over to the canvases and paints, Rainbow Dash charged into the group, knocking out many unfortunate ponies that happened to get in her way. Pinkie Pie noticed this, and collected extra paints and such for her occupied friend, while Rainbow Dash had finally made her way to Spitfire._

"Hi, Miss Spitfire!"

_She put on her happiest expression for Spitfire, who tried to concentrate on the cyan pegasus in front of her and get the herds of crowding ponies away from her._

"Hey...don't I know you from somewhere?"

_Rainbow Dash's face seemed to brighten even more so._

"You recognise me? Oh, my gosh, oh, my gosh, oh, my gosh!"

_Spitfire was a tad freaked out by the pony's reaction, but then remembered who she was._

"Hey! You saved that purple pony, didn't you? And I saw you at the Galloping Gala! You've got some impressive flying skills, kid!"

_Rainbow Dash thought she would burst from excitement. I'm here, she thought, talking with Spitfire, one of my all time heroes, and she thinks that **I'm** a good flyer! Still, she forced herself to keep cool, and managed a suitably happy expression._

"Yeah, that's me! So, anyway..."

_Only then did she realise that she hadn't thought of what she would say to her. Panic flooded her as she forced her lips to speak the first thing that came into her mind._

"Why's a busy and famous pony like you somewhere like here?"

_Spitfire smiled._

"Oh, I always come here. Well, when I'm not training, that is. It's my place to relax, I guess."

_Rainbow Dash was confused._

"But...you're a member of The Wonderbolts? You love flying, right?"

_Spitfire chuckled in response._

"Yeah, I still love flying! I just think it's kind of...unhealthy for my whole life to be about flying. I like to occupy my time with other things."

_At that time, Miss Gogh bombarded into the group._

"Everypony, calm down! Spitfire's just an ordinary pony who came here to learn. She only wants to be treated like you treat every other pony. Now, I suggest you get back to your work. That is, if you want to stay in this class."

_The group quietened down at Miss Gogh's order, and started to move back to their desks, but not without a few glances at Spitfire._

"That includes you, Miss Dash."

_With that, the teacher dragged Rainbow Dash back to her desk by hooking her tail into her mouth and then returned to the front of the class, where the rest of the ponies were getting their equipment._

"Now...paint!"

_And, with a dramatic flair, everypony began their work. While most ponies were carefully painting in light shades with paintbrushes in their mouth, Pinkie Pie was busy at work in a different manner. She stuck her hooves into the tubs of paint, spilling paint all over the desk and herself, and then shoved her hooves onto the canvas, creating a extreme mess. Spitfire was still at the right side of the class, painting large and quick strokes with her paintbrush. Rainbow Dash glanced over to her often, trying to copy all that she did. However, the paintbrush fell out of her mouth often, and she couldn't see what she was painting, so she had no clue what to do. Eventually, she gave up and started painting whatever she wanted on a new canvas in strong, clumsy strokes, accidentally poking through the canvas often. After about half an hour, Miss Gogh stopped the class with a yell._

"YAH!"

_Everypony turned to Miss Gogh, who smiled happily at the class, her attitude completely different from thirty minutes ago. Now I see why Pinkie Pie likes this class so much, thought Rainbow Dash. She and the teacher are both completely **crazy**!_

"Now, lets see what you've all done."

_Miss Gogh walked around the class, admiring everypony's paintings and telling them what they could improve on, and eventually came to Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash's desk. She looked at Pinkie Pie's first, which Rainbow Dash hadn't even bothered to look at, as she knew it would be a complete mess._

"Wow, Pinkie Pie! This painting is amazing!"

_This attracted a bit of Rainbow Dash's attention, and when she glanced over at the painting, she was incredibly shocked by what she saw. The painting was a closeup of Rainbow Dash flying through the skies, a huge Sonic Rainboom behind her. Rainbow Dash's face seemed concentrated on the blue mass in front of her, almost not noticing the Sonic Rainboom, only focusing on her target, whatever it was. But that wasn't what had shocked Rainbow Dash. It was the quality of the painting. It wasn't anything like Miss Gogh's work, and looked very much like the work of a amateur, but the contrast of the different colours in the painting immediately caught the eye. You could see every different shade of the Sonic Rainboom, the strokes of blue that stretched across the canvas, almost coming at you. It just seemed so surreal, yet so beautiful. Rainbow Dash sat there, staring at it. But soon, she was forced to snap out of her trance by Miss Gogh, who had come to look at her painting._

"Rainbow Dash, this is great! You did a really good job!"

_Rainbow Dash looked over to her painting, then at Miss Gogh, as if she was crazy. There were holes in the canvas, and clumsy splashes of blue. She had tried to do a self portrait, but it had just ended up with a messy, blue and ruined canvas._

"Are you...sure about that, Miss?"

"Of course! Don't question the skill of your work, Rainbow Dash. I can see you put a lot of effort into this."

_With that, Miss Gogh walked away to the next desk. As Rainbow Dash was about to turn to Pinkie Pie to ask about her painting, she saw that she had disappeared. As she turned back, she heard her voice._

"Wow, Dashie, Miss Goo was right! This painting is really good!"

_Rainbow Dash turned to where the voice was coming from to see that Pinkie Pie was on the other side of her, stretching her neck to look at her painting._

"What are you, crazy? It's hideous!"

_Pinkie Pie tutted and shook her head._

"Now, now, Dashie. As Miss Goo always says 'Don't question the skill of your work'!"

_Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes._

"Yeah, right. There's no skill here! Besides, isn't her name Miss Gogh?"

"Yeah, but I just call her Miss Goo. It just sounds nicer, y'know? Oh! Anyway, I've got something for you!"

_With that, she bounced to her side of the desk and took her canvas over to Rainbow Dash in her mouth, then dropped it on the table._

"There you go, Dashie!"

_Rainbow Dash looked at the painting in shock, then at the smiling Pinkie Pie. It was the painting of Rainbow Dash that Miss Gogh had liked so much._

"Pinkie Pie, I can't accept this. It's way too good! I'll probably just break it or something!"

"What? I've given one to everypony, I can't leave **you **out!"

"You've given a picture of me to everypony? Why?"

"No, silly! I've been going to this painting class for ages, and I really liked it, so I decided I'd paint a separate painting of everypony, and give it to them! You're the last one to get yours, but I brought you along with me, so you could talk to Spitfire! I knew it was a good idea!"

_With that, she started jumping up and down like a hyperactive filly, giggling as she did so. Rainbow Dash, however, was furious._

"Pinkie Pie! If you had told me that Spitfire was going to be here, I would have had time to get ready! I didn't even get to ask her any questions about flying! Oh, she probably thinks I'm an idiot!"

_With that, she slammed her head into the desk in frustration, almost hitting the canvas. Pinkie Pie became concerned for her friend, and therefore stopped bouncing and tried to think about a way to make her happy again. Then, suddenly, she had an idea._

"Hey, Dashie!"

_Rainbow Dash turned her head towards Pinkie Pie, the very image of annoyance._

"What is it now, Pinkie?"

"Well, you said you didn't like your painting, so I thought maybe if I taught you how to paint like me, you and Spitfire would have something else to talk about, and then you'd get on really well, and then she'd like you so well that you'd get to join The Wonderbolts!"

_With that, Pinkie Pie made a dramatic flair and waited for Rainbow Dash's opinion, who had been listening and became more positive with every word, and had slowly raised her head from the desk. She grabbed Pinkie Pie and hugged her._

"You're a genius!"

"No, I'm not, silly! I'm Pinkie Pie! Pin-kie."

_She said the last word slowly, and poked Rainbow Dash's forehead lightly with her hoof while she said it. Just then, the moment was interrupted by Miss Gogh._

"Spitfire, you did incredibly, as usual."

_With that, everypony, including Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie, went over to Spitfire's desk to see what Miss Gogh was talking about. Spitfire had painted the entire class. The colours were amazing, the brush techniques were perfect. It looked so lifelike that everypony around her gasped at its beauty and pointed out where they were. Spitfire turned towards Miss Gogh and smiled._

"You all seemed so happy to see me that I thought I'd return the favour. I hope you all like it!"

_They all gave her encouragement and talked about how great it was, so much so that Miss Gogh felt it was only necessary to put it at the front of the class, much to Spitfire's joy, and everypony else's. After the class was over, they all came out chattering and laughing amongst each other, having had a great time. Pinkie Pie was also as excitable as usual, talking to Rainbow Dash, who wasn't responding. From the moment she'd seen herself in Spitfire's painting, her heart was pounding. She felt touched at the fact that Spitfire would include her in one of her hobbies, and proceeded to follow her with her eyes as she flew away, even when she was out of sight. Pinkie Pie carried the painting of Rainbow Dash in her bag, next to a expressionless Gummy, who's head still stuck out of the bag. Rainbow Dash turned to Pinkie Pie in desperation._

"Pinkie Pie, you just gotta teach me how to paint! I need to talk to Spitfire again!"

_With that outburst, Pinkie Pie only smiled in return and spoke her confirmation._

"Okey-dokey-lokey!"


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I don't own any songs, shows or anything mentioned in this fanfiction.**

Rainbow_ Dash walked through the doors of Sugarcube Corner and sat down at a table. The shop was closed for the night, and Rainbow Dash waited for Pinkie Pie. She soon came down the stairs, jumping as she did it. Rainbow Dash didn't worry about the safety of that, though, as she knew Pinkie Pie would be alright, as per usual._

"Hey, Dashie! Are you ready for your lesson?"

"Lets just get this over with, okay?"

"Okey-dokey-lokey!"

_With that, Pinkie Pie proceeded up the stairs, as excitable as usual, Rainbow Dash following along. She became less annoyed as she climbed the stairs, as she was more interested in where Pinkie Pie was taking her. Pinkie Pie led her into a medium-sized room with pink wallpaper with cupcakes on it, pink carpet, a pink bed and all things pink. It was so bright, it was giving Rainbow Dash a headache. Still, she thought, I guess I'll just have to deal with it. However, she was mistaken, as Pinkie Pie took paints and a canvas from that room, and walked out, much to Rainbow Dash's surprise, who hurried along after her. They eventually arrived in a bland room that nopony had never bothered to decorate; a spare room, Rainbow Dash supposed. In it, there were all kinds of things. There were toys of all kinds, pony puppets, a karaoke machine, a carved wooden sign saying 'Giggle at the ghostie!' on it, and many other things. Rainbow Dash looked at it all in wonder. She'd never seen half of these things beforehand. Pinkie Pie turned around to look at her and saw her expression of awe._

"Oh, yeah, those! They're all mine."

"Really?"

"Yeah. I made most of them, as well."

_Rainbow Dash was even more shocked at that. Pinkie Pie picked up two puppets and started to talk for them._

"Off we go, to the Grand Galloping Gala! Oh, no! A monster!"

_With that, Pinkie Pie took Gummy out of her bag and put him next to the puppets, which he towered over. He kept a blank expression as the pony puppets around him screeched in response and ran around in circles in panic. Pinkie Pie giggled at the chaos. Rainbow Dash picked up a windup toy on the ground and examined it._

"How did you have time for all this?"

_Pinkie Pie looked up from her creations and turned to Rainbow Dash, then picked up Gummy, put him in her bag and trotted over to Rainbow Dash._

"I like to keep myself busy."

_A small silence fell between the two ponies. Pinkie Pie noticed a sadness in Rainbow Dash, and tried to snap her out of it. She dragged her over to the painting area by her tail, which caught Rainbow Dash's attention and anger._

"Hey! Why does everypony think they can do that today?"

_Rainbow Dash snatched her tail back and walked over to the desk with her head held high, much to Pinkie Pie's relief. She followed happily._

"Now, where do you want to start?"

"I don't know. I just want to be good."

"Dashie, it doesn't work like that!"

_Rainbow Dash sighed and became more irritated by the second that Pinkie Pie wasn't giving her a straight answer._

"Then what is it like?"

_Pinkie Pie lay a hoof on her chin and tapped it, as if in thought. Then she brightened up and went to a CD player. She took a CD out of it with her mouth and lay another in it, that happened to be on the side, out of it's case, as if it was used often. Before she played it, she turned to Rainbow Dash and spoke, suddenly looking extremely serious._

"Dashie, I want you to understand that painting isn't all strokes of colour and splashes of paint. It's something more important than that."

_Rainbow Dash wanted to interrupt her and complain about what else it could possibly be about, but she could see that Pinkie Pie wanted to speak, and felt something inside her that told her that this was important, and she should let her say her part. So, Rainbow Dash stayed silent, and Pinkie Pie carried on._

"It's about expressing things you can't say to ponies in real life. It's about expressing those feelings that we all feel but are too afraid to talk about. It's about all those things and more."

_And with that, Pinkie Pie pressed the play button on the recording._

**(Starry Starry Night- Don McLean plays)**

_Rainbow Dash had never heard anything like it before. It was calming, yet it captured the attention of everypony that was lucky enough to hear it. It told the story of an artist that Rainbow Dash didn't know, and probably never would, and yet she felt as if she knew him personally. Pinkie Pie slowly made her way over to Rainbow Dash as she listened to it, until she was sitting right next to her, gently placing her hoof over her own. Rainbow Dash thought of many things as the lyrics went on._

**"Look out on a summer's day,"**

_She thought of herself napping on a cloud in the heat of the sun, and could almost feel the rays aganist her at that moment._

**"Catch the breeze and the winter chills,"**

_She felt the cold of winter hit her as the sun in her mind faded away, and a breeze as chilling as night itself gave her shivers. A breeze that wasn't there. Pinkie Pie saw this, and cuddled closer to her, a worried look in her eyes as Rainbow Dash slowly closed her eyes, feeling the music envelope her._

**"Now I understand, what you tried to say to me, and how you suffered for your sanity, and how you tried to set them free."**

_She thought of Pinkie Pie, and her eyes opened as she looked down at the pink pony, who lay her head on her shoulder, staring out into space as she thought to herself. It was then that Rainbow Dash thought she understood Pinkie Pie more than she ever had before. She wasn't crazy; if anything, she made more sense than most ponies do at times._

**"They would not listen, they did not know how. Perhaps they'll listen now..."**

_She thought of herself, and how she'd been so quick to criticise her friend earlier. She should have listened to her. She had all the answers to all of Rainbow Dash's questions, and she'd never even noticed before. She felt a tear slip down her cheek, and realised she was crying. She wiped it away quickly, so Pinkie Pie wouldn't notice. The song ended sooner than Rainbow Dash had wanted it to, but when it did, the first thing she did was nuzzle herself in Pinkie Pie's hair, much to her surprise, and then much to her joy. Gummy, however, broke the moment by climbing up into Pinkie Pie's hair and biting Rainbow Dash's cheek. It didn't hurt her, of course, but she wasn't all too pleased with it either, and moved away from Pinkie Pie and tried to swat him off._

"Urrr! Get off me! Stupid thing!"

_Pinkie Pie giggled and pulled him off, then stuffed him in her bag._

"Silly Dashie, he's not a 'thing'! He's a baby alligator!"

_Rainbow Dash rubbed a red part on her cheek where the alligator had bit her._

"I don't care what he is! Why did he do that?"

"Oh, I think my little Gummy's jealous!"

_With that, Gummy popped his head out of the bag, hissed at the injured, light blue pony, which was quite unlike him, and jumped back into the bag. The sadness that Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash had shared in that moment less than a few minutes ago had disappeared as quickly as it had appeared. However, it seemed that the pair were closer because of it, which was shown when Rainbow Dash reached up a hoof to stroke the sore part on her face, but was stopped by Pinkie Pie, who kissed her on the sore cheek lightly, much to Rainbow Dash's surprise. Soon, her whole face was red with embarrassment, making Pinkie Pie giggle._

"You look funny, Dashie!"

"Hey! Are we going to start the painting lessons or what?"

_Pinkie Pie grinned._

"Sure!"

_With that, Pinkie Pie raced over to the CD player. Before Rainbow Dash could ask her what she was doing, she'd already grabbed a specific CD and stuck it in the machine. After that, she turned to Rainbow Dash, her grin as wide as ever._

"Dashie, we're gonna paint the town red!"

**(Cabaret- Louis Armstrong plays)**

_Rainbow Dash had a million questions racing through her mind. What were these songs? What pony sung them? Why did they sound so...alien? And what did the phrase 'paint the town red' even **mean**? However, instead of asking any of those, she only smiled at her friend, and turned to the canvas as Pinkie Pie jumped up next to her and the music continued to play. Pinkie Pie taught Rainbow Dash many techniques. She taught her about shades of colour, she taught her how not to get paint all over everything. However, when Rainbow Dash asked her why she didn't use those techniques, she just smiled and told her friend that it was 'more fun the Pinkie way'. They carried on throughout the night as every jazz song Pinkie Pie had ever known played on that machine and though Rainbow Dash should have been tired and grumpy, she wasn't. For once in her life, she loved doing something that wasn't flying. It made her feel...like a new pegasus. Though she hadn't understood Spitfire before, she did now. There's more to life than what you're good at. Exploring new worlds and new arts are all a part of life, otherwise you're not really living. Those were the most important things that Pinkie Pie had taught her that night, even though she didn't speak them. Even when it was early morning and Mr and Mrs Cake had awoken and started their work, the pair stayed in the large basement-like room. The couple didn't mind, however, and liked the fact that Pinkie Pie was having fun. Sometimes they would hear them practicing their painting skills, but at other times, they would dance together, sing together and laugh together. Though it wasn't technically so, Pinkie Pie secretly believed that this was the best party she'd ever thrown. Once the afternoon came, they both seemed to realise what time it was, and Pinkie Pie left for her work shift, and Rainbow Dash left to take a nap for the rest of the day. However, before they said goodbye, they exchanged paintings; Rainbow Dash took Pinkie Pie's painting of her, which she had done earlier, though she had been too busy with Spitfire to care too much about it then, and Pinkie Pie took a painting from Rainbow Dash. Later that night, when Pinkie Pie was asleep, Mr and Mrs Cake couldn't keep their curiosity inside much longer, and peeped into her room in the hope of finding out what the painting was. They smiled at each other when they saw that Pinkie Pie had already framed the painting. It was of Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie dancing together, laughing and grinning as musical notes came from the machine in the corner that Pinkie Pie had turned up with one day. The happy couple kissed each other gently, and then made their way out of Pinkie Pie's room, for a night of peaceful rest, pleasing dreams and happy memories._


	4. Chapter 4

_It had been a week since Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash had had their special moment, and they had grown closer ever since. Ponies commented on how, beforehand, Rainbow Dash was best friends with Pinkie Pie, but she also seemed annoyed by her hyperactivity most of the time. However, nowadays, when Pinkie Pie acted out of turn, Rainbow Dash would laugh along. Nopony other than themselves and Mr and Mrs Cake are sure what happened to change the pegasus's attitude towards her friend, but they all took it as a positive change. However, another change that was more controversial was the fact that Rainbow Dash was flying a lot less than usual. She still flew often, but didn't seem half as obsessed with technique as she had been before. Only a week ago, it was all that mattered to the pony. They wondered at how such a large change could be made in such a short time. Other pegasus ponies didn't agree with the change, and thought that Rainbow Dash was only being lazy. However, close friends of her encouraged her to do what she wanted. Though different ponies had different attitudes, it seems that almost all changes are met with controversy. Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash started hanging out more often, usually in the basement in Sugarcube Corner, practising painting. Few ponies believed this, though, and rumours spread like wildfire. Neither of the two ponies cared much about them, though, as they knew that their intentions were innocent, and were more concerned with developing their talents than anything else. After days of practising, they went back to Miss Gogh's painting class, and accompanied each other there, giggling and laughing to each other on their way there, like two school fillies. Once they entered the room, they quietened down as everypony, including themselves, sat at their desk. Miss Gogh looked towards the class, smiling as she did so._

"Class, a week ago, I saw you all paint for the first time. I hope that the words I said to you then will have an affect on your painting, and that you've improved."

_Ponies started to look at each other worriedly and muttered to each other, except for Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash, who turned towards each other, smiled knowingly, and then turned back to the teacher, who had raised a hoof in silence to the other ponies, who fell silent in response._

"However, it's alright if you haven't. This class isn't a school. There's no homework or deadlines. I want this to be a creative space. So, no pressure."

_With that, she smiled, and turned towards yet another covered canvas._

"Today, we're going to be painting..."

_She grabbed the sheet with her mouth and pulled it off, revealing a painting of __Miss Cheerilee._

"Our best friend!"

_Excited chatter flooded across the classroom as everypony got started. Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash turned to each other, Rainbow Dash looking at her knowingly and Pinkie Pie smiling back with her usual simple demeanour, but also understood what Rainbow Dash was trying to tell her. They all began to paint. Miss Gogh looked at her class from the front of the room, pleased with their progress and enthusiasm, and herself for having come up with the fun idea. However, one special Pegasus sat at the back of the class, embracing the gloom around her, looking down at the ground, and occasionally glancing at the blank canvas, as if it was a burden. Miss Gogh moved from her position at the front, trotting down to Spitfire's desk._

"Spitfire, is anything wrong?"

_Spitfire snapped out of her haze of depression and looked up at the teacher, grinning._

"Nah, I'm fine, Miss."

_Miss Gogh narrowed her eyes, raised an eyebrow to her and tapped her hoof expectedly, all signs of suspicion._

"Really?"

_Spitfire tried to style it out, but failed, and looked down at the ground once again._

"Well, the thing is, Miss, I don't really have a best friend. Sure, I've got members of the Wonderbolts, but I want to seem like there's more to my life than that. So far…"

_She turned to the empty canvas, which seemed to stare back at her with a certain expectancy, and a need to be filled with colours and shades of light. She sighed._

"There's not much else."

_Miss Gogh looked down at her most loyal student and smiled, then placed a comforting hoof on her shoulder._

"Spitfire, you don't need to feel pressured to be something you're not. Everypony respects and adores you for who you are. You should feel proud to be a Wonderbolt."

_None of this seemed to improve Spitfire's attitude._

"However, if you're really sure that you want to start making a life outside of your training, I'll agree that it's a positive thing, and support you with it, the way that a friend would. So, in that way, I guess it would make sense if you painted me."

_Spitfire looked up at her favourite teacher, smiling, her wings fluttering lightly in happiness._

"Seriously?"

"Sure!"

"Alright! Let's paint!"

_With that, Spitfire went to work, and a happy Miss Gogh went back to her place in front of the class, pleased that she had helped her newfound friend. With that, Miss Gogh got to work on her own painting._

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><p><em>After about half an hour, Miss Gogh repeated the actions she went through last lesson.<em>

"YAH!"

_The class stopped painting, and one pony even fell over, rubbing his horn where he fell as a few other ponies giggled at him as he blushed. Miss Gogh ignored this and carried on with her lesson._

"Now, lets see how all of you have done."

_She wandered around the class, talking to everypony about their paintings, until she came to Spitfire. Everypony was interested in what her painting would be. It could have been Soarin', Fleetfoot, or even Rapidfire, who doesn't appear for public performances as much as the others. However, when Spitfire revealed her painting of Miss Gogh, everypony was surprised, except for Miss Gogh herself, of course. She only turned to her friend and smiled._

"Thank you, Spitfire! Well, I've done a painting for you!"

_With that, Miss Gogh trotted to the front of the class and unveiled her new painting of Spitfire. However, it wasn't just one image. In one corner, Spitfire was flying through the sky with The Wonderbolts. In another, she was covered in paint and painting a picture of herself. In another corner, she was at a party, and in the other, she was socializing with friends._

"I like to think this one captures all the different elements of you."

_Miss Gogh smiled at Spitfire, who was so touched that tears began to form in her eyes. She wiped them away, hoping nopony would see, but Miss Gogh did see, and only smiled at her once more, then returned to her lesson, so nopony would put too much attention and pressure on the pegasus. She continued through the class as Spitfire calmed down, until she eventually came to Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash, who had painted each other._

"Well, Pinkie Pie, as per usual, this is very good wo-"

_She stopped short as she glanced at Rainbow Dash's painting, then began to stare at it in shock. It was better than before. Extremely better. The colours and shades seemed accurate, the brightness of the image of Pinkie Pie's happy face capturing her true positive attitude. Pinkie Pie's expression of happiness in the painting seemed to make all who viewed it happy as well. Miss Gogh smiled at it, brightened up by it._

"Amazing work, Rainbow Dash!"

_She continued to the other ponies, an extra spring in her step, glad that she had started this class in the first place. Rainbow Dash turned to Pinkie Pie and smiled._

"Pinkie Pie, I want you to have this painting."

_Pinkie Pie gasped dramatically._

"Really? YAY! I was hoping you would say that, but I wasn't sure, so I just had to wait, and I was really worried that I was going to paint you and that I'd paint Applejack and it would be really awkward, but now, it's great!"

_She jumped up and down happily, the painting of herself already gently placed next to Gummy in her bag. Rainbow Dash shook her head at her hyperactive friend and smiled, then kissed her on the head gently, causing her to stop jumping up and down, but then she giggled, and pounced on Rainbow Dash, hugging her tightly._

"Pinkie..need...air..."

_Pinkie Pie let go._

"Oh, sorry, Dashie. Still, Goo was right! The painting is great! Still, I wouldn't expect less from my little Dashie, would I?"

_She nudged her playfully, then carried on chattering as the class packed up for the end. Rainbow Dash had completely forgot about Spitfire until then. She looked towards her, only to see her talking with the teacher and laughing. She smiled, and looked down at Pinkie Pie, who continued to jump up and down out of the doorway. She then followed Pinkie Pie. I can meet Spitfire anytime, she thought to herself. Pinkie Pie's special._

* * *

><p><strong>Well, that's the end of A True Artist! This was more friendship-based than romance-based, but I plan to write up a RainbowDashxPinkiePie fanfic very soon. :3 Anyway, please review, and I take requests. I hope you enjoyed this! :D<strong>


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